Boiler-bracket.



W. WITHBM. BOILER BRACKET.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1909.

939,368. I Patented N 0v.9,1909.

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DREW. GRAHAM c0 FHOTO-UTMOGFAFMERS. WASHINGTON D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFIQE.

WILLIAM WITHEM, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO ATLAS ENGINE WORKS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

BOILER-BRACKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1909.

Application filed January 29, 1909. Serial No. 475,041.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WITHEM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boiler-Brackets, of which the following is a specification.

In the erection of steam boilers it has heretofore been customary to support comparatively small and light boilers upon the fire front at one end and a suitable standard at the rear end, and to support larger boilers by means of brackets secured to the sides of the boiler shell so as to project laterally therefrom, said brackets resting upon the setting. In other cases loops or eyes are riveted to the boiler shell in such manner as to receive suspension rods by means of which the boiler may be suspended from an overhead support. Where supporting brackets have been used it is customary to firmly fix the forward brackets in the setting so that there will be no movement of the forward end relative to the front plate, but to provide a roller mounting for the rear brackets so that the boiler may expand and contract without injuring the setting. It has heretofore been common, within recent years, to provide supporting brackets or hanger ears of sheet metal but difficulty has been experienced in the use of sheet metal brackets owing to the difliculty of providing satisfactorily cooperating rolling supports therefor because, a sheet metal bracket, in order to be sutficiently stiff to support the weight, must be corrugated or otherwise distorted so that no suflicient bearing surface for rollers can be readily provided. A manufacturer of boilers is unable to determine beforehand whether suspension hangers or bracket hangers will be desired with any particular size of boiler (as the selection depends largely upon the individual opinion of a purchaser) and it has therefore been necessary for the manufacturer either to omit wholly any supporting members until an order was received, or to carry in stock boilers provided, some with supporting brackets and some with hanger ears.

The object of my present invention is, therefore, to produce a sheet metal attachment for boilers of such character that it may be used either as a supporting bracket or as a hanger-receiving ear and, by slight addition, may be used in conjunction with supporting rollers or balls, so that stock boilers may be equipped with my improved bracket and be immediately available for mounting either by the bracket-support, or suspension, method.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved bracket; Fig. 2 a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 4, the roller-receiving sole plate being shown in position; Fig. 3 a section on line 33 of Fig. 4; Fig. 4- a plan of the bracket and its attached sole plate; Fig. 5 a plan of a sheet from which the completed bracket may be formed, and Fig. 6 a perspective of the sole plate attachment.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the plate or blank from which the bracket is to be formed, said blank being perforated with rivet-receiving holes 11 and also being perforated at 12 for the reception of a hanger rod. The blank shown in Fig. 5 is introduced into suitable dies in proper condition so as to be pressed and formed into the shape shown in Fig. 1; having a portion 13 which is curved to conform to the curvature of the boiler shell; a laterally extending portion 14; a pair of substantially parallel knee-brace corrugations or ribs 15 which extend across the angle between the parts 13 and 14; and an intermediate pocket 16 which rises from the corner between the parts 13 and 14, and extends between the inner adj acent walls of the ribs 15, the upper wall of said pocket carrying the perforation 12. The ribs 15 do not extend the entire length or width of portion 14 so that the edges of said portion are straight to readily receive a sole plate 21 which, on three sides, is provided with a short upwardly-extending flange 22, so arranged that the sole plate may be readily slipped endwise upon the portion 14 of the bracket and extend across the open under sides of the ribs 15 and pocket 16.

In use, brackets like that shown in Fig. 1 may be riveted to a boiler shell at desired points. Those supporting the front end of the boiler may have their portions 14 permanently embodied in the setting, while the rear brackets may have the sole plates 21 slipped upon their portions 14, thus forming a perfectly flat and smooth hearing which may rest upon ordinary supporting rollers, supported in turn upon ordinary s of separated hollow ribs struck up from the tially between the adjacent faces of the two bearing plates embodied in the setting. If suspension supports are desired, the suspension rods are passed upwardly through per forations 12, the head of the suspension rod lying in the pocket 16. It will of course be understood that the suspension rod may be used in conjunction with a setting cooperating with the brackets, or the setting may be so arranged that the brackets do not engage it when the suspension members are used.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sheet metal boiler bracket having its ends bent at an angle to each other, a pair body of the sheet in the angle between the two ends, and an intermediate suspensionrod pocket struck up from the body of the plate at the bend thereof and extended parhollow ribs, substantially as shown and described.

2, A sheet metal boiler bracket comprisbraces and a sole plate having upwardly ex- 1 tending flanges embracing the edges of the laterally extending portion.

In witness whereof, I, have hereunto set; my hand and sad at Imlianapolis, Indiana, this twenty-second day of January, A. l). one thousand nine hundred and nine.

WILLIAM \YI'IHEM. [n s.]

\Vitnesses FRANK H. BAKER, R. M. Coiuu'x. 

